This invention relates generally to the control of information in a data processing system and, more particularly, to a system in which the information is provided with xe2x80x9ctagsxe2x80x9d pursuant to downloading the information with a suitable downloading platform (e.g., a personal electronic time management device operatively coupled with a personal computer) to a database. In turn, the tags are used to facilitate distribution of the information from the database to selected users or sites designated by the tags. Moreover, the present invention is directed to access management of the information after it is off-loaded from a personal electronic time management system.
The prior art has disclosed a number and variety of interactive electronic calendaring systems and methods. The objective of all of these systems is primarily to assist the person who, for a number of different reasons, maintains a calendar of future events containing various information about the event at entry points on the calendar which relate to the time of the event.
The increase of personal computers and intelligent workstations in recent years has made it possible for calendar owners to establish and maintain their calendars on these interactive type data processing systems.
Two general types of interactive electronic calendaring systems have thus evolved in the art. In one type of calendaring system, the owner of the calendar is generally also the user of the workstation and that workstation is generally not a part of a larger network. Generally, in these types of systems, the calendar functions involve presenting a screen to the user representing a day calendar divided into a number of time periods or time slots. Each period is capable of displaying a limited amount of text that the user enters. In some systems, the day calendar can scroll vertically to present more time periods to the user or horizontally to present longer text entries. The operator can generally xe2x80x9cpagexe2x80x9d forward or backward and, in most arrangements, can display a requested date. These calendaring arrangements generally do not limit the type of event that is calendared nor the terminology employed at any of the entry points and, to that extent, function in the same manner as conventional manual calendars or appointment books. The electronic calendaring method and systems do have an advantage over the prior art manual calendaring of events in that the user generally has the ability to scan a time span involving a large number of days and identify calendared events quite rapidly.
The other type of calendaring arrangement that has developed in the prior art involves multi-user environments having a large number of terminals or workstations which are generally part of a larger communication network that has been established to permit the users to interact with each other and with data maintained on the data processing system. In this environment, a user at a terminal or workstation can send a message to one or more of the other users on the network and is notified when the users have received and read the messages.
In most of these environments, each user generally maintains a calendar, and in many of these environments the reason for the interaction with each other quite often involves reference to respective calendars. A considerable amount of time is therefore spent in many organizations, with people checking and rearranging their calendars to accommodate various events such as meetings, presentations, etc. In this environment, the calendar systems and method have progressed to the point where a person who is calling a meeting can at least review within the constraints that the security system dictates, the calendars of other users on the system that he intends to invite to a meeting, to determine whether a given time period is available on the respective calendars of the perspective attendees. However, once the meeting time is set and the prospective participants notified of the date, time, and subject of the meeting, each participant must update his or her own electronic calendar and reply to the meeting request. While the system can facilitate the request and reply message process, it is sometimes less frustrating when a negative reply has to be transmitted to merely use the telephone to arrive at another mutually convenient time. As a result, a considerable amount of time and effort is spent by calendar owners replying to requests for participation in events that are being calendared by other persons.
The following patents represent various improvements to electronic calendaring methods for increasing productivity and making the overall system more appealing to the calendar owner by providing functions that the calendar owner came to expect and rely on when her calendar was being kept manually.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,018 to Cree et al. discloses an electronic calendaring method for use in a data processing system that has a plurality of interactive type work stations (terminals or personal computers) connected directly or indirectly to a host processor. The method assists a calendar owner who receives a notice at his work station requesting his involvement in a future event that is being calendared by another calendar owner on the system, to manually or automatically designate in the reply a temporary alternate to attend the meeting being calendared or a permanent alternate to attend all future meetings without affecting his status in the system as a recipient of the meeting notice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,191 is directed to an electronic calendaring method in which a calendar owner can selectively trigger a predefined action and response to detecting one or more criteria related to the calendar event that has previously been defined and entered into the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,611 is directed to an electronic calendaring method in which a calendar owner who keeps a detached personal copy of her master calendar can automatically reconcile the calendar entries that have been made on each calendar copy, independently of the other since the last time the detached copy was made and interactively resolve calendar event conflicts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,552 to Scully et al. discloses an electronic calendaring method for use in a data processing system that has a plurality of interactive type work stations connected directly or indirectly to a host processing unit. The method assists a calendar owner to request the system to develop and display a composite calendar comprising entries from a plurality of calendars within a specified time span which have been selected by criteria entered interactively into the system by the calendar owner. The criteria entered are not limited to xe2x80x9cfree periodsxe2x80x9d nor system established terminology, but can include terms established by the calendar owner community.
As indicated by way of the discussion above, maintaining calendars on and between personal computers represents a very effective way to develop and maintain a composite calendar. Nevertheless, in a mobile society where even a xe2x80x9claptopxe2x80x9d computer can represent, for some, more xe2x80x9cbaggagexe2x80x9d than desired, personal electronic time management systems (xe2x80x9cPETMSxe2x80x9ds) are gaining in popularity. Indeed, many users now effectively use PETMSs in networked calendaring approaches.
A first example of a PETMS well suited for use in a calendaring process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,438 to Subas et al., the personal time management system being directed toward both a system and method for permitting event information to be inputted in graphic form directly onto a primary display screen without the need to pull up a separate, intrusive popup screen for entering calendar events. The invention additionally provides a positive indication of a conflict between calendared events which is immediately visually apparent and which does not require a visual comparison between shaded segments of a Gantt chart. The most essential calendaring information can be entered and displayed on a single primary visual display for improved at-a-glance calendar status checks.
A second example of a PETMS well suited for use in a calendaring process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,009. The illustrated PETMS in the ""009 Patent is an Apple Newton handheld computing device (xe2x80x9cNewtonxe2x80x9d is a trademark of Apple Computers, Inc.) including a calendar program Referring specifically to FIGS. 3 and 4 of the ""009 Patent, dialogs suitable for entering and maintaining event related data are shown. Obtaining information on an Apple Newton device is particularly easy to do as a result of Newton""s xe2x80x9cdata soupxe2x80x9d architecture. Newton soups, as is well known in the art, allow access to data by applications other than the one that created that data. For example, when a user desires to query a Newton soup, that user need only know its name (e.g., xe2x80x9ccalendarxe2x80x9d) and a field by which it is indexed (e.g., xe2x80x9cmtgStartDatexe2x80x9d).
A final example of a PETMS well suited for use in a calendaring process is embodied in the publicly available PalmPilot handheld computer (xe2x80x9cPalnPilotxe2x80x9d is a trademark of 3Com Inc.). The PalmPilot handheld computer includes a backlit screen upon which application icons are displayed. Preferably input to the PalmPilot handheld computer is provided by way of a stylus which is used to xe2x80x9cscribblexe2x80x9d characters on the backlit screen. The characters are provided in a shorthand known as xe2x80x9cGraffitixe2x80x9d. The PalmPilot handheld computer is capable of storing files and those files can be synchronized readily with files on a host personal computer by simply dropping the handheld computer in a cradle and pushing a single button. The PalmPilot handheld computer is typically about the size of a wallet (weighing about 5.5 ounces) and, in one example, can hold roughly 500 address-book entries, 600 appointments, 100 to-do items, and 50 memos.
In some instances, maintaining calendars on and between personal computers may require the configuring of a database at a common server to store related calendaring information efficiently. The principles underlying the maintenance of a database at a server are believed to be similar to the principles underlying the maintenance of a xe2x80x9cshared drawerxe2x80x9d (in which multiple files are stored). In one instance of the shared drawer concept, Novell, Corp. provides a xe2x80x9cshared drivexe2x80x9d arrangement in which a set of users are given access to a particular drawer by a xe2x80x9csystem administratorxe2x80x9d. With the shared drive approach, a user typically has access to each file in the drive. Other approaches in which the extent to which a user can xe2x80x9creadxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwritexe2x80x9d relative to the files of the shared drawer are known.
Another convenient way to share files or documents is achieved through an xe2x80x9cInternetxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwebsitexe2x80x9d model. In this model, documents can exist via hypertext or other links from a home page. Certain documents can be secured with a password, and a xe2x80x9cweb masterxe2x80x9d is typically responsible for supervising issues of security. Essentially, the web master is ultimately responsible for which documents can be downloaded to or uploaded from the website. U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,795 discloses a system for securing documents in a network environment. In the ""795 Patent, a system administrator controls document flow through use of a suitable database. It stands to reason that the security system could readily be implemented in an internet based environment of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,754 to Lagarde et al.
The concept of networking has been greatly expanded by way of the Internet model, the model permitting users to access a wealth of information by switching from server to server (and thus database to database). The switching may be achieved with a xe2x80x9cbrowsingxe2x80x9d system that permits user access by simply clicking on a highlighted word or phrase of interest at a web client.
As is known, a popular instantation of the Internet is the world wide web (xe2x80x9cwwwxe2x80x9d). On the www, hypertext markup language (html) specifies the display of information on the web client or platform, and hypertext transfer protocol (http) provides a neutral mechanism for the transfer of information from a server computer to a client computer over the TCP/IP network protocol.
Of particular interest is the neutral aspect, in which the transfer and display of information does not depend on the client computers operating system or processor configuration, but only on the capabilities of the protocol-compliant browser. Publicly available server software often includes a common gateway interface (CGI) which allows the server to invoke a software program which may be passed user specified parameters, and whose output will be transferred to, and displayed on the client computer. Further details regarding the internet, or the www, is disclosed in the ""754 Patent.
It follows from the discussion above, that privacy issues go xe2x80x9chand-in-handxe2x80x9d with the area of document or information sharing. That is, when the user of any information repository places selected information in a given repository, that user has certain expectations of privacy with respect to the selected information. This expectation of privacy is not met in many of the shared document/interactive calendaring models. For instance, in the above-mentioned shared drive approach, any user with access to the shared drive can xe2x80x9cperusexe2x80x9d through others documents in an unfettered manner.
While U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,552 contemplates that calendar entries can be provided with one of three security levels, the flexibility of such system, with respect to security, appears to be no greater than that possessed by the shared document systems. More particularly, an entry can be xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csharedxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d. While the meaning of the indicator xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d is believed to be apparent on its face, it is not believed that the meaning of xe2x80x9csharedxe2x80x9d cannot be gleaned from the disclosure. Additionally, the degree of security associated with xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d appears to be extreme since xe2x80x9cOnly date and time may be provided . . . xe2x80x9d when a xe2x80x9cPrivate Entryxe2x80x9d indicator is designated. It would be desirable to provide a flexible security system for a calendarization scheme in which access rights could be set in a customized fashion for each piece of information downloaded to a corresponding repository and/or database.
It is believed that this sort of customizable security system might also be useful in the application of PETMSs. As understood, if the user of a PETMS desires to share calendar information with another, a joint calendar/xe2x80x9cto do listxe2x80x9d can be created, as single user, and each individual can upload or download all information associated with this joint calendar. The joint calendar is basically a single user since the PETMS can only support one user. Under such single user system approach, if an individual desires to share certain information, electronically, with a spouse or family member, different information with a colleague at work, and a third set of information with support staff, this cannot be done without forming a joint user that would include all the desired recipients and all the recipients would receive all the downloaded or uploaded information. This can cause problems because sensitive information can be passed to the wrong person. It is believed that the only way to selectively transfer information in this single user system approach is to print out the joint calendar, edit it, and have the intended recipient reenter the edited version in his or her PETMS. It would be desirable to provided an information sharing system for PETMSs in which one or more specific pieces of information are shared strictly with those recipients for which the specific information pieces were intended.
Moreover, PETMS, when sharing calendar information with a host PC or network download all calendar information on the PETMS. There are many instances where one only desires to download certain calendar information to the host. It is imperative to have a system which is also capable of restricting the off-loading of calendar information depending on the identification of the host receiving the information. For example, a user may desire that event A be off-loaded from the PETMS to a home PC, but not to the user""s office PC. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system which is capable of discriminating against certain hosts depending upon the nature of the data being off-loaded.
A method for sharing action information between a plurality of personal electronic time management systems through a multi-user personal computer and a second personal computer is disclosed. The method involving first entering into the personal time management system time information for an action and entering into the personal time management system action description information for the time entered. Then, dynamically entering into the personal time management system circle of interest member information from a list of predetermined circle of interest members, the circle of interest member information designating a breadth of sharing of the action such each action previously entered can be programmed dynamically to have a circle of interest member information which is composed of any combination of the predetermined circle of interest members. Dynamically entering into the personal time management system designation information from a list of predetermined designations, the designation information designating a breadth of sharing of the action such each action previously entered can be programmed dynamically to have a designation information which is composed of any combination of the predetermined designations, the designation information enabling the user to control what information is shared depending on what type of device is in communication with the personal electronic time management system during downloading. Downloading only the entered action information having associated therewith from the personal time management system designation information corresponding to the multi-user personal computer and downloading only the entered action information having associated therewith from the personal time management system designation information corresponding to the second personal computer. Distributing download action information to a proper database residing on the multi-user personal computer and storing the action information in the proper database, the proper database being associated with at least one of the circle of interest member attached with the action information and distributing download action information to a proper database residing on the multi-user personal computer and storing the action information in the proper database, the proper database being associated with at least one of the circle of interest member attached with the action information. Lastly, uploading the action information in a database to a proper personal time management system, the proper personal time management system being associated with the database.